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Chapter 259: Supernova
🕑 Added 2023-09-13 17:36:00 +0000 UTCWe're back!! Chapters will come Monday to Saturday as normal, and enjoy!
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As Jack was discussing with Shol, Master’s Sophina voice rang in his head, suddenly calling him over.
“Wait,” he told Shol, “Master just summoned me.”
“She did?” The monk’s eyes widened. “That’s unusual. Get to it, then. It wouldn’t do to leave our master waiting.”
“Alright. Should we meet here in, say, six hours?”
“Yes. See you then.”
“See you. And, Shol?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks. For accommodating my selfish needs.”
Shol smiled. “Nothing selfish about wanting to protect your people, Jack. Besides, it works out for everyone. Now go. The clock is ticking.”
Jack returned the smile. “Yes, brother!”
He then rushed out of the window, realizing that, once again, he didn’t finish his cup of tea. Perhaps that was a cursed cabin.
Jack crossed the sky, flying over the estate to land in the courtyard of Elder Sophina’s manor; a building as imposing as it was simple, dominating the very peak of the mountain. Two guards stood before the gate, eyeing him strangely; they’d seen the results of Monsoon’s visit, so his arrival wasn’t too unexpected.
“Are you here to see Master?” one of the guards asked, and Jack nodded. Before he could reply, however, Master Sophina’s voice rang in his mind once again:
“Just teleport inside.”
She also released a soft wave of energy to indicate her precise location. Jack didn’t dare tally. He gave the guards a helpless shrug, then stepped through space and reappeared in the same room he’d seen Sophina the previous time. Large glass windows showcased the estate and the lands beneath it, while the horizon was tinged with soft clouds and a colorful sky.
“Good. You came quickly,” Sophina said before Jack could speak. She rose to her feet. “Come. We don’t have much time.”
“Greetings, Master. Much time for what?”
“You’ll see.”
She walked three steps to reach him, then placed a hand on his shoulder. Jack noticed she was taller than him. In the next moment, space warped around them, much harder and faster than when Jack teleported. When it stabilized again, they were in the sky, illuminated by the nebula’s solar gasses and surrounded by white clouds.
There was also a starship. It floated in the sky before them, completely still, as if anchored in space itself. No Dao energy emanated from it, and yet, there must have been some, or how could it fly?
“Master?” Jack asked.
“This is my personal vessel, the Ray. Step inside.”
Things were happening a bit too fast for Jack’s taste. He trusted Sophina, but still…
“What is going on?” he asked.
“I’ll explain on the way. Just get in.”
Jack steeled his heart. If she wanted to harm him, she could do it easily. As a door on the side of the starship silently slid open, he stepped through, finding himself in a simple, sharp interior. It could fit three people comfortably, maybe four. Windows surrounded them on all sides—even though he was sure there were none on the outside—giving him a clear view of everything.
“One-way metal. Very handy,” Sophina explained, entering the starship herself and shutting the door. She quickly reached the front of the starship and placed her hands on a sun-shaped helm, infusing it with energy.
“Well, I’m here. Could you explain what is going on, Master?” Jack asked cautiously.
She smiled at him. “Do you not trust me, Jack?”
“I do. I’m just curious.”
“Then, you can wait a little bit. Some things are best served as surprises.”
Jack grumbled. Not that he had a say, anyway. This tall, slim woman who looked like an old yoga instructor held the power to level entire continents. Plus, she was his master. If she wanted to make anything a surprise, it would be a surprise.
The helm under Sophina’s hands reached saturation. The energy of the Dao of Space—Jack could recognize it now—surrounded the entire ship, and suddenly, they lurched through it, traveling at unprecedented speed.
Jack had experienced starship teleportation aboard the Trampling Ram. Back then, however, it was a process which took a long time to set up, and a long time to execute. They also traveled dozens of light years per teleportation.
In this case, the lurching of space stopped almost immediately. They were now surrounded by solar gasses in all directions, flickering predominantly with purple and orange, but also various other colors.
He thought it was time to say something. “Where are—”
His voice was cut off as they teleported once again. With another jump, they traveled an unknown distance. The terrain had changed—solar gasses still stretched in the distance, but only behind the starship. Its front side looked outside the nebula, where a single, giant red star dominated the vast expanse of space.
“We’re here,” Sophina said with relief, “and just in time, too. Brace yourself. We’re going out.”
“That’s— How far did we just travel?”
“A hundred and twenty light years.”
He whistled. Sophina pressed a button to open the side-door, and both of them flew into space. They didn’t teleport this time; Sophina just wanted them out of the starship. The view did not change. A cloud of gasses stretched behind them, while the vast empty space ahead was only illuminated by a large red star.
And illuminated it was, because the star was burning. It was a gas giant exuding so much heat that even Jack struggled to withstand it. It looked bloated, too, as if it was drawing in a large breath to achieve…something.
“What am I watching?” Jack asked.
“One of the most violent events in the universe,” Sophina replied slowly, almost reverently. The last few words were whispered. “A supernova.”
Jack drew in a cold breath—or at least, he tried, before the vacuum of space decided to disagree.
“Are you serious!?” he asked. “That thing will blow us away!”
“Why are you afraid? You are with me.” She looked calm and certain. “I am a peak C-Grade, an Elder of the Exploding Sun, a candidate for the next Grand Elder. And this event…is exactly where our faction got its name.”
Jack raised his brows. “Really?”
“Of course. Don’t tell me you never made the connection.”
“I did, but…”
She smirked. On her wizened face, it was almost scary. “There were two founders to our faction. One was a warrior following the Dao of the Fist, of whom you’ve seen a Dao Vision, as Shol informed me. But the greatest founder, and the original leader of the faction, was an exceptional human woman named Elandra.”
Jack loved stories like this, but the sight of the nearby star worried him. Even now, from an incalculable number of miles away, he could see it expanding with a speed visible to the naked eye. He could almost picture its imminent collapse.
Was this really the best time for storytelling?
“Elandra’s signature skill,” Master Sophina continued unfazed, “was called Supernova. A tremendous explosion inspired by the collapse of a large, dying star. Of course, even a B-Grade cultivator cannot imitate the power of a real supernova, but there are records of her using one explosion to annihilate a planet.”
“An entire planet!?”
“That’s right. You are familiar with the power scale of the Grades, correct? F-Grades can break people, E-Grades can break hills, D-Grades can break mountains, C-Grades can break continents, and B-Grades can break planets.”
“I’ve…heard of it.”
Nauja had described this back in Trial Planet. Of course, he never really believed people could destroy planets, but if Master Sophina said so as well…
Sophina nodded and continued. “Elandra and her husband roamed the galaxy freely. They were some of the strongest B-Grades of their time, and they even formed a new B-Grade faction in a time when the political terrain was considered stable. And all that was possible because of one thing, that even the strongest cultivators of the galaxy feared: Supernova.”
“Supernova…” Jack repeated, tasting the words. “Then, I assume this is to help me get that skill as well?”
“Exactly. The Dao Vision we possess of this skill is currently unavailable, but some people over the years have managed to comprehend it through watching a live supernova eruption. It is unlikely, but given your talent, I hope you may be able to do it. After all, not many can brag about conquering Trial Planet.”
Jack laughed. “Speaking of that… How come you didn’t use my achievement against Monsoon? My Ninth Ring Conqueror title would have made him shut up on the spot.”
“Because it is a weapon too strong to be used for a mere Monsoon. And also because— Wait. It’s starting.”
Jack whipped his head at the star, finding that its expansion had ceased. Its “skin” was stretched to the extreme, colored a deep red and struggling to expand further, only for another force—gravity—to hold it down. It had run out of steam.
In the next moment, the star shed off its red skin, which flew away harmless as hot gasses. However, what remained started shrinking. Fast. Too fast.
A transparent orange shield materialized before Jack. He could still see the shrinking star, as he could see Sophina, who stood beside him with her hands glowing orange.
“Listen carefully,” she commanded. “I will limit the heat to a point you can withstand. You will be safe. However, I need you to give it your all. Stare at the explosion until your eyes melt. Spread your senses and Dao awareness to perceive as much of the mysteries as you can. Feel the supernova—only then will you be able to master it.”
Jack steeled himself, but he couldn’t stop the gnawing terror. The implosion before his eyes was the strongest thing he’d ever seen. Even from millions of miles away, he knew that its strength was enough to annihilate entire solar systems in the blink of an eye, enough to destroy each and every B-Grade faction with ease.
B-Grade cultivators could break planets? So what!? Before the true ancestral forces of the universe, even the strongest cultivators were nothing! Before Jack’s very eyes, the universe was reclaiming its rightful throne!
Jack watched with rapt attention. He tried to calm himself. All around him, he could sense terror in the Dao itself as the star compressed ever more. Particles swam with agitation as if the entire galaxy was holding its breath in fear of what was about to happen. The orange shield seemed soft, like glass—would it hold?
And then, the shrinking was over. As the star contracted to a size so small Jack could barely see it, a titanic explosion covered the world. The Dao erupted. Space sank and shattered. A shockwave spread like God’s angry roar, and the universe itself was instantly colored with infinite destruction. It was a display of power above and beyond anything else possible.
For Jack, time slowed down. He focused his entire attention on the explosion, scouring it with his eyes and trying his best to feel the ripples of power through his Dao perception.
Light appeared, and its intensity kept rising. It never stopped. Jack went blind. Master Sophina had told him not to look away, but he didn’t even have the chance to. Everything happened too quickly.
At the same time, tremendous heat assaulted his body. He felt that he was in an open oven or a boiling cauldron. His strengthened body, with 815 Constitution and 90% increased efficacy, melted away like snow. His natural regeneration worked hard to stave off the collapse, but it could do nothing for the waves of searing pain that blared over his senses, not letting him perceive a thing.
The heat reduced slightly, and Sophina’s voice rang in Jack’s brain: “Focus! Endure! Observe the waves!”
Jack didn’t want to do that. He wanted to run away, to escape. However, something inside him forced him into focus. Some part of himself grabbed the panic and suppressed it with iron will. Steel swam in his veins; his soul was steady like an anchor.
The pain remained, but he was in control. Still screaming, he tried to perceive through the pain, and what he saw was the Dao burning and vibrating with such intensity that it shocked him.
His brain, trained by the Dao Vision of Space, caught on to a pattern. Then another. The heat of the supernova spread and affected the world in particular ways, ones that he could not comprehend now, but that he could remember for later.
His body kept melting. The pain was still shooting up. And yet, the more intense the pain, the sharper Jack focused. It felt like he had ascended beyond his body, as if he was a god, as if the pain was inconsequential and felt by someone else, not him. He was made not of flesh and blood, but of iron will and sharp focus, as well as the resolve to never, ever stop.
In one moment of epiphany, he saw it. Though he had no eyes, the supernova’s Dao reactions became clear, just like a blueprint burned into his brain.
Suddenly, the heat disappeared. Jack felt his body pulled—through it was hard to feel anything—and then the miraculous state was gone, and the pain he’d been ignoring so far returned fiercer than ever.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to rob him of consciousness. It tried, but the Dao Root of Indomitable Will held strong, and the Dao of the Fist prevented Jack from giving up. No, scratch that; he didn’t want to give up. He would persist. If not, then his name was not Jack Rust!
The moments passed in agony. His regeneration worked hard to repair his body, but it wasn’t for free. Under the pain, he felt exhausted. At the very least, he couldn’t see himself, as he remained blind.
An indeterminate amount of time later, Jack was healed—his eyes came last, mercifully. He remained whole and mostly uninjured, with his miraculously pristine robes covering any last burns he had left.
Master Sophina caught on to that, too.
“Those aren’t normal robes, are they?” she asked, eyeing them with some confusion. “Where did you get them?”
“Trial Planet,” Jack answered truthfully. His voice came hoarse, but a voice nonetheless. “In the last ring.”
“You should hold on to them. Not many materials can survive that kind of heat.”
Jack felt so exhausted and traumatized that he had to force himself to pay attention. These robes had been given to him by Old Man Spirit when he broke into the D-Grade. Now, Jack was very glad for that gift, as his clothes getting destroyed in battle had become all too common lately.
“I will,” he replied simply. He caught Sophina’s eyes, and in them, he saw pity. Or was that regret?
“I’m sorry you had to go through this,” she said, “but it was a worthy risk. On the path of cultivation, pain is nothing. Do you feel that you gained anything?”
Jack forced himself to chuckle. “I saw some things…but only time will tell whether they help me or not.”
“I certainly hope they do.” Sophina gave him a last, approving look before standing and placing her hands on the helm, which immediately started glowing. “Let’s head back. There is already a hot meal waiting for you—you’re going to need it.”
Jack smiled, still splayed on the floor. “Yes. And, master?”
“Yes, Jack?”
“Thank you. For the experience.”
She smiled at him—and, if any of her smiles were honest, it was this one. “No problem.”
